Writing books 'that live forever'

 

“Most books, like their authors, are born to die.  Of only a few books can it be said that death has no dominion over them; they live, and their influence lives forever.” – William Styron

Styron - born in 1925 and died in 2006 - wrote 4 books that “fit” his long life description –  the novels Sophie’s Choice (which also won multiple Academy Awards as a movie); Lie Down in Darkness; and The Confessions of Nat Turner (winner of a Pulitzer Prize); and his memoir Darkness Visible.

Born in Virginia in 1925, Styron jumped into writing as a student at Duke – while simultaneously working toward a commission in the U.S. Marines Corps to serve in WWII and later the Korean War.  In between the two conflicts, he worked as an editor at McGraw-Hill and wrote his acclaimed first novel Lie Down in Darkness.

Also a noted essayist, short story writer, and playwright, Styron was awarded the St. Louis Literary Award and France’s Cino Del Duca World Prize, recognizing an author whose work constitutes, in a scientific or literary form, a message of modern humanism.

“A great book should leave you with many experiences,                    

and slightly exhausted,” Styron said.   “You should live several lives while reading it.”